Wednesday Aug 22, 2007

Well, well.. for all you calendar viewers, daily planners, and clock watchers...

Today's blog is a poem that I jotted down in 2006 (8/31/2006), revised recently.. and just as it was then.. is still fresh in my mind and close to the heart.. reflections on TIME.. and Living for Today. Realizing how absolutely TIME crazed our world is.. and that very few of us... actually do "Sieze the day" [Latin : "Carpe diem" Horace], living Today as if it were our last.. and valuing the precious (priceless) commodity that it is.

For all of us, we seem to reach for the future or get caught up reflecting on the past, with little effort spent on Living in the "present" (a gift not to be wasted).

We will never know which "today" will be the last.. so we best start Living .. and Loving more.. ENJOYING life and it's simple pleasures.. because any day could be our last.

Reflecting on the history and origin of all things, as I tend to do.., it amuses me how EVERYTHING is time centric.. given that it's a man-made instrument of humanity .. the illusive gauge that simultaneously enabled and handicapped mankind in our quest to control, understand, and harness the productivity of the world around us.

Take the definition of time itself as an example, ..seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, etc... all of which originated in prehistory and were refined over millennia. The days of the week (7 days likely originated by dividing the period of the moon.. ~28 days by 4 phases = 7) , eventually personified.. named and associated with the gods of the times (Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Greco-Roman, ..), as were the 7 known "heavenly" bodies :

Sun, Moon, Tiw/Mars, Woden/Mercury, Thor/Jupiter, Freya/Venus, Saturn

== Sunday/ Monday/ Tuesday/ Wednesday/ Thursday/ Friday/ Saturday

These were the key Gods worshiped by mankind as pagans (Polytheism) when the Julian Calendar was eventually finalized by Julius (July) and Augustus (August) Caesar. This was before science started to take hold and Monotheism gained popularity post-AD (Constantine in 313AD), when science began it's uphill battle counteracting superstition by explaining reasons for why things happen (farming/agriculture, water/waste management, nutrition/medicine, ...), diminishing the need for many Gods as people understood and controlled more of the world around them.

You probably never realized that many variations in the number of days in a week have existed over time.. 7-10 being the standard range (the Roman calendar had 10 months with 9 days per week.. the 9th being market day, .. and with the French Revolutionary Calendar.. 10 days per week for 36 weeks a year).

The beginning of the year has also changed many, many times, initially marking time according to lunar/annual events (Solstice, equinox, etc..), then following the mandates of governments/ religions (Jan 1, March 1/ 15/ 25, May1, July 1, Aug 29-31, Sept 1, Dec 25,...), and even the birthday of Augustus Caesar (Sept 23).

The ancient Sumerians/Babylonians had an affinity to base-6 math, which resulted in the calculation of PI for calculating accuracy of geometric circles from a known radius (probably originating from drawing a circle from rotating a stick at it's center.. the stick's length, it's radius, able to outline a circle by creating a 6-sided hexagon.. the natural shape that bees use in a honeycomb.. with 6 uniform segments). This base-6 math also gave us the 24 hour day, 12 months, 360 degrees in a circle.. and 360+ days in a year.. tweaked over time to 365, etc...

Once again.. mankind trying to control the world around us, creating order out of chaos, which grounds us.. and allowed for civilization to thrive (Imagine everything before sundials where people tried to coordinate things based on sunrise/sunset and high noon .. you get the concept .. lots of disorganized .. & LATE people). Society and civilization as a whole couldn't become more productive and thrive without it (I suppose ;) ).

Well.. either way, for this blog....it's "time" for a change.. Let me know what you think.. hope you enjoy... and don't get sucked into that old "Time Trap...".

Todd :)

"TIME TRAP .. Today :

As the clocks now click at internet speed,slow them please to be there.. some "today" for me.

Time is my curse,there every day.

Too young, too old,they take it away.

Time Past,Time Planned,but none for today.

No Present, just reaching,hearts and minds ..gone astray.

Sun-dials and sand-timers,the urge to control..a guage, the imaginary sage.. .. a need, within us all.

All the time,Every Time,our collusion, delay.

Are we late ?,are we early ?, .... perpetual disarray.

Quiet Time,Past Time,..but no time to Play.

Yours... hours,the intangible price we pay.

Time for War,and Peace,but none for Love.

Break the clocks for me..just give them a shove.

We've embraced the dillusion,.. TIME, the grand illusion ..though we waste the moments away.

While yesterday's tomorrow..forever abscent.. is always another time, we call.. Today.

As you dance through life,along the critical paths we weave,ask yourself .. "is this the Time of my life ? or the Life of my Time ?" ..

to some.. disbelief, to others .. sublime.

Through Winter, Spring,and Summer I call .. to the dimension of time,though invisible to all.

From the Sun and Moon,the speed of light does speak,as myths once told, every day anew ..emparts on us, ... the strength in life we seek.

Upon the Earth, ever spinning,we're speeding our lives away.... slow it down to a crawl, so I can sow time's seeds..... to blossom and harvest... Today.

We're here every day,but just for the ride.So come have a seat, right by my side.

But just as it slows, ... you get farther away,so please speed it up, I can't wait for Today.

And while I wait, please make me some time.Put it away for tomorrow, "Today" is not mine.

For I with You,Here's my "present",.... on borrowed time.

I simply dream for "Today" ... with you....just one more time. "

Todd J.( Copyright 2006-2007 Todd A. Jobson )

Leaving you with a little... TIME in a Bottle .. the other thing that recursively gets ReCycled .... ENJOY !! :)

About

This blog does not reflect the viewpoint or opinions of Oracle or Sun Microsystems. All comments are personal reflections and responsibility of Todd A. Jobson, and are copyrighted from the posted year to current year, to that effect.